Romans 10:13 is one of the more beloved verses of the Bible. “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Before Paul sent these words in an epistle, Joel declared these words as prophecy. Joel 2:32 “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Precious, powerful truths are revealed as this OT promise is now a NT reality. First, the day to come in Joel is today! Just as Paul quotes Joel in Romans, so does Peter in Acts 2 while delivering his Pentecost sermon. Peter announces Joel’s prophecy is fulfilled (Acts 2:16).
Second, Paul clarifies who the “everyone” of Joel is. Just before quoting Joel in Rom 10:13, Paul says in Rom 10:12, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him.” “Everyone” means the Gospel is not exclusive to one ethnicity but rather is extended to every tribe and language! Even though the Messiah is a Jew, His salvation is for “everyone,” that is, the Gospel is not restricted by lineage, gender, or social standing (Gal 3:28)!
Third, Paul equates “Jesus” in Rom 10:13 with “the Lord (Yahweh)” of Joel 2:32. There is no doubt that Joel is referring to Yahweh in Joel 2. In like manner, Paul is clearly means Jesus when he says “Lord” in Rom 10! Rom 10:9,13 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord (that is, that Jesus is Yahweh!) . . . you will be saved . . . For (that is, now comes the explanation) everyone who calls on the name of the Lord (that is, Jesus) will be saved!”
Fourth, today is then the day of salvation for EVERYONE who will believe, worship, and follow the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor 6:2)!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
There is Only One - Hos 12-14
13:4 “But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but Me, and besides Me there is no savior.”
There is only one God. That does not mean that a multitude of other creatures, people, and fabrications do not parade around as if they were a god! Being made, prayed on, and told you are a god does not make you God though! Convincing scores of people to bow down to you does not make you God. False gods do abound, but a false god by nature is not God.
Worshipping any other god besides the true God is idolatry. It is one thing to reject the living God; it is quite another to replace Him with a phony, insufficient substitute. Rejection plus replacement equals idolatry. Replacements come in all forms of creation, material and ideological. In the end though, all false gods are images of self. Idolatry is at its core the worship of self. False gods are not gods at all. They are just self with a real high view of self! There is only one God.
If there is only one God, then it stands to reason there is only one Savior! If all other gods are false gods, then all other gods cannot solve our deepest problems. If all other gods essentially boil down to self, then we are truly lost. We cannot save ourselves! This is why we fabricate gods to begin with. We know down deep inside something is wrong with us, something is beyond us, and we need help. That is why we all worship something, whether it be a statue or our own intellectualism. In the end, however, we simply cannot correct the massive corruption that lies in our hearts. We need a savior. We need a true savior. There is only one. His name is Jesus!
There is only one God. That does not mean that a multitude of other creatures, people, and fabrications do not parade around as if they were a god! Being made, prayed on, and told you are a god does not make you God though! Convincing scores of people to bow down to you does not make you God. False gods do abound, but a false god by nature is not God.
Worshipping any other god besides the true God is idolatry. It is one thing to reject the living God; it is quite another to replace Him with a phony, insufficient substitute. Rejection plus replacement equals idolatry. Replacements come in all forms of creation, material and ideological. In the end though, all false gods are images of self. Idolatry is at its core the worship of self. False gods are not gods at all. They are just self with a real high view of self! There is only one God.
If there is only one God, then it stands to reason there is only one Savior! If all other gods are false gods, then all other gods cannot solve our deepest problems. If all other gods essentially boil down to self, then we are truly lost. We cannot save ourselves! This is why we fabricate gods to begin with. We know down deep inside something is wrong with us, something is beyond us, and we need help. That is why we all worship something, whether it be a statue or our own intellectualism. In the end, however, we simply cannot correct the massive corruption that lies in our hearts. We need a savior. We need a true savior. There is only one. His name is Jesus!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Handling a Hardening Heart - Hos 9-11
Breaking up hardened soil is hard work. Once the surface has been packed by travel, cemented by rain, and baked by the sun, its like concrete rather than dirt. The only solution is back-breaking work with pics and plows. It is not only hard work, it is necessary work, especially if you are a farmer. You simply can’t afford to sit by idly and watch some ground become unusable. You need to use that plot; you can’t lose that plot.
The way of hardened ground is an illustration of a hardened heart. Just like the soil in the elements, hearts, left to their own inclinations, will become hardened to the things of God. They will be packed down by constant sin, cemented by vain philosophy, and baked by the heat of wayward passions. Just like the hardened soil, the hardened heart must be broken up. Once the soil is loosened and refreshed, it will revive! It will receive nourishment and it will once again produce! The same is true for the heart.
However, breaking up a hardened heart is hard work! It’s hard to honestly confess sin. It’s hard to sincerely repent of sin. It’s hard to train your heart to hate the things that it loves. It’s hard to intentionally discipline yourself for godliness instead of laziness. It’s hard work, but it is necessary work. A hardened heart that is never confronted and plowed up indicates a heart that has never been made new. We all have hearts that grow hard at times but if we will do the hard work of breaking up our fallow ground, those hearts will revive, and they will once again produce!
10:12 “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that He may come and rain righteousness upon you.”
The way of hardened ground is an illustration of a hardened heart. Just like the soil in the elements, hearts, left to their own inclinations, will become hardened to the things of God. They will be packed down by constant sin, cemented by vain philosophy, and baked by the heat of wayward passions. Just like the hardened soil, the hardened heart must be broken up. Once the soil is loosened and refreshed, it will revive! It will receive nourishment and it will once again produce! The same is true for the heart.
However, breaking up a hardened heart is hard work! It’s hard to honestly confess sin. It’s hard to sincerely repent of sin. It’s hard to train your heart to hate the things that it loves. It’s hard to intentionally discipline yourself for godliness instead of laziness. It’s hard work, but it is necessary work. A hardened heart that is never confronted and plowed up indicates a heart that has never been made new. We all have hearts that grow hard at times but if we will do the hard work of breaking up our fallow ground, those hearts will revive, and they will once again produce!
10:12 “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that He may come and rain righteousness upon you.”
Thursday, October 28, 2010
The Right Response - Hos 5-8
What should you do in response to the chastening, judging hand of the Lord? When your sin is the issue of the trial you are facing, how should you respond to God? When the Father, in love, disciplines His child, how should the child react? Here are a couple of ways we usually get it wrong!
We should not deny, ignore, justify, cover-up, overlook, candy-coat, rationalize, or excuse our sin! Sadly, we often respond this way. We grow so attached to our sin and fond of our sin that even the first strokes of discipline doesn’t wake us from our spiritual slumber. Know this though, the loving Father will not give up until His child is corrected!
We should not turn to our own devices, gimmicks, charms, strength, or resources to ease our mind, body, and conscience! Sadly, we often respond this way. Instead of perceiving the spiritual nature of our trial, we tend to confine it to the physical realm and set out to find a cure for what ails us. Again, the Lord will relentlessly pursue and persuade His own!
So how should we respond to the loving, sometimes difficult and harsh, correction of our Father? Hosea’s call to Israel and Judah in 6:1 is a great example for us. “Come, let us return to the Lord; for He has torn us, that He may heal us; He has struck us down, and He will bind us up.”
Return to the Lord. Repentance is the right response. Sadly, we seldom respond in this manner! We usually react as did Israel and Judah by digging in our heels and clinging to our sin. Knowing our proneness to wander, let us beseech the Lord for moldable hearts that detect and detest our own sin and for the granting of repentance in times of correction!
We should not deny, ignore, justify, cover-up, overlook, candy-coat, rationalize, or excuse our sin! Sadly, we often respond this way. We grow so attached to our sin and fond of our sin that even the first strokes of discipline doesn’t wake us from our spiritual slumber. Know this though, the loving Father will not give up until His child is corrected!
We should not turn to our own devices, gimmicks, charms, strength, or resources to ease our mind, body, and conscience! Sadly, we often respond this way. Instead of perceiving the spiritual nature of our trial, we tend to confine it to the physical realm and set out to find a cure for what ails us. Again, the Lord will relentlessly pursue and persuade His own!
So how should we respond to the loving, sometimes difficult and harsh, correction of our Father? Hosea’s call to Israel and Judah in 6:1 is a great example for us. “Come, let us return to the Lord; for He has torn us, that He may heal us; He has struck us down, and He will bind us up.”
Return to the Lord. Repentance is the right response. Sadly, we seldom respond in this manner! We usually react as did Israel and Judah by digging in our heels and clinging to our sin. Knowing our proneness to wander, let us beseech the Lord for moldable hearts that detect and detest our own sin and for the granting of repentance in times of correction!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
A Lot Like Gomer - Hos 1-4
When you are called by God to be a prophet, you expect to hear the words of the Lord and convey that message to the people. What you wouldn’t expect is for the Lord to call your marriage to be an illustration of His message to His people! For Hosea, this was a surprising and tearful calling!
Israel was pagan when the Lord chose her to be His own. He brought her into a relationship out of grace because there was nothing good in her. As His own, He lavished her with good things. She came to adore these things instead of her Husband. Eventually, she grew cold toward God and entered into relations with other gods. God would not tolerate spiritual adultery. However, God would not annihilate Israel because His love remains steadfast and faithful. Once again, from grace, He will call her to His side.
That is the story of God and Israel. That is the story of Hosea and Gomer! Hosea is to take a prostitute as his wife to portray God’s gracious choice of Israel. Gomer will return to her ways and become an adulterous prostitute to portray the horrible nature of Israel’s idolatry. Hosea will purchase and love her to portray the grace, faithfulness, and love of God for His people!
If you are looking through the eyes of Gomer, you see God in Hosea’s face. If you are looking through the eyes of Hosea, you see the remnant of OT believers. But look again, real close. Gomer not only looks a lot like OT post-exile believers, she looks an awful lot like us! That’s right! We are a lot like Gomer. We were unworthy and undeserving when God lavished us with His grace. While prone to turn from God, God in His gracious, steadfast love will not let us go! He continues to love us through discipline, through forgiveness, and through constant, unyielding, faithful love!
Israel was pagan when the Lord chose her to be His own. He brought her into a relationship out of grace because there was nothing good in her. As His own, He lavished her with good things. She came to adore these things instead of her Husband. Eventually, she grew cold toward God and entered into relations with other gods. God would not tolerate spiritual adultery. However, God would not annihilate Israel because His love remains steadfast and faithful. Once again, from grace, He will call her to His side.
That is the story of God and Israel. That is the story of Hosea and Gomer! Hosea is to take a prostitute as his wife to portray God’s gracious choice of Israel. Gomer will return to her ways and become an adulterous prostitute to portray the horrible nature of Israel’s idolatry. Hosea will purchase and love her to portray the grace, faithfulness, and love of God for His people!
If you are looking through the eyes of Gomer, you see God in Hosea’s face. If you are looking through the eyes of Hosea, you see the remnant of OT believers. But look again, real close. Gomer not only looks a lot like OT post-exile believers, she looks an awful lot like us! That’s right! We are a lot like Gomer. We were unworthy and undeserving when God lavished us with His grace. While prone to turn from God, God in His gracious, steadfast love will not let us go! He continues to love us through discipline, through forgiveness, and through constant, unyielding, faithful love!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
It All Comes Down to This - Dan 9-12
12:1-2 “But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
It really does all come down to one of two places! Most will have fallen asleep by the time that the end of time rolls around. Most of us will be in the process of returning to dust from which we came. Most of us will be buried and long gone. But each of us will be awakened!
We will all be resurrected. We will all be startled out of our physical slumber to discover bodies fashioned to exist forever. We will all gasp that first breath to realize that this is a totally different existence. We will all be alive.
It is then though that there will come the great division. Some will be made alive in order to LIVE forever! That is, to exist joyfully in the presence of the Most Holy. Some, however, will be made alive in order to DIE forever! That is, to endure an eternity of punishment for the eternal crime of mocking, rejecting, and denying the only begotten Son of God.
All will be raised. All will be made alive. All will live forever. Some to life. Some to death. How would one be assured of a resurrection to everlasting life? How would one know his name is in the Book of Life? The answer is found in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ! He said in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live!” Awakened to life or awakened to death? Embracing Jesus or rejecting Jesus? It really does all come down to this!
It really does all come down to one of two places! Most will have fallen asleep by the time that the end of time rolls around. Most of us will be in the process of returning to dust from which we came. Most of us will be buried and long gone. But each of us will be awakened!
We will all be resurrected. We will all be startled out of our physical slumber to discover bodies fashioned to exist forever. We will all gasp that first breath to realize that this is a totally different existence. We will all be alive.
It is then though that there will come the great division. Some will be made alive in order to LIVE forever! That is, to exist joyfully in the presence of the Most Holy. Some, however, will be made alive in order to DIE forever! That is, to endure an eternity of punishment for the eternal crime of mocking, rejecting, and denying the only begotten Son of God.
All will be raised. All will be made alive. All will live forever. Some to life. Some to death. How would one be assured of a resurrection to everlasting life? How would one know his name is in the Book of Life? The answer is found in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ! He said in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live!” Awakened to life or awakened to death? Embracing Jesus or rejecting Jesus? It really does all come down to this!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Eschatology and Worship - Dan 5-8
Eschatology means the study of the end times. What is the end of eschatology? What is the end of the end times? Answer: Worship! Specifically, global, diverse, multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, cross-cultural worship of the Son of God! Worship of every language and worship of every expression and worship of every form pointed to the only object of true worship, Jesus Christ. The end of the end is the beginning of forever worship!
“And behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (7:13-14).
This heavenly scene is where history is headed. The culmination of the consummation. Christ will come. God the Father will be exalted in the exaltation of His Son. The Redeemed of all ages from all points of the globe will forever bless the Son for His forever salvation. Once His kingdom is fully realized, it will never wane, dwindle, or vanish.
Worship, true worship, real worship, of the Son is the goal of history, the purpose of creation, the reason for missions.
Eschatology can be a foggy haze of questions. When will this happen? What does this mean? Who does this represent? The main point, however, is clear as can be. In the end, Christ will be magnified forevermore!
“And behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (7:13-14).
This heavenly scene is where history is headed. The culmination of the consummation. Christ will come. God the Father will be exalted in the exaltation of His Son. The Redeemed of all ages from all points of the globe will forever bless the Son for His forever salvation. Once His kingdom is fully realized, it will never wane, dwindle, or vanish.
Worship, true worship, real worship, of the Son is the goal of history, the purpose of creation, the reason for missions.
Eschatology can be a foggy haze of questions. When will this happen? What does this mean? Who does this represent? The main point, however, is clear as can be. In the end, Christ will be magnified forevermore!
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